


Baby We Don't Need These Lights ('Cause We'll Be Seeing Stars Tonight)

by WakeUpDreaming



Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: Confessions, F/M, Fluff, Fools in Love, Gen, Mission Fic, Power Outage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-19
Updated: 2015-11-19
Packaged: 2018-05-02 08:31:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5241665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WakeUpDreaming/pseuds/WakeUpDreaming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The power goes out during a mission in freezing New England.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baby We Don't Need These Lights ('Cause We'll Be Seeing Stars Tonight)

**Author's Note:**

> In honor of our New Hampshire cold snap that made me wear my winter coat out at bus duty three days in a row this week.  
> Title from "Moon" by The Cab. Which. Yeah. Go listen.

“What the hell is wrong with New England?” Happy grumbles, her shoulders shivering. She ignores the way Toby’s smile grows a little bigger.

“Oh,” he says, from under his parka, “are you cold? Because I’m all cozy in the parka you made fun of.”

“Shut up,” she grumbles. “How was I supposed to know it was below 30 degrees in November? It’s still fall!”

“Not around here, it isn’t,” Paige says, yanking her hat over her ears. “Now I’m glad we didn’t end up in Maine.”

“Also,” says Walter, “Sly spent forty minutes telling us that we needed to make sure to bundle up and you told him to, and I quote, ‘shove it.’”

Sly offers her a smile. “I did warn you.”

Happy rolls her eyes and tries to keep herself from shivering too much.

They follow Cabe and Cooper out the door as Cooper continues to explain the goal.

“And Happy,” she says, “you’re going to be working the power before you disengage the lockdown procedure to make sure it surges out when we need it. Cabe won’t be able to take out the guards if they see him coming.”

“And if he can’t see them coming?” Toby asks. “Cabe’s a beast, but he doesn’t have night vision.”

“Handled it,” says Sly, holding up three pairs of goggles Happy finds both ugly and intriguing. “Side project Ralph and I have been working on.”

“Well aren’t you fancy,” Toby says, raising an eyebrow.

“Why three?” Happy asks.

“Toby’s coming with us,” Cabe says. “I’m going to need back up and you two are the best option. Besides, if there’s anybody in the lockdown room who needs medical attention, he’s our best bet.”

“I’m sorry,” Happy says, “but going back to the back up comment, Paige is tougher than Toby.”

“Not recently,” Paige says, and the annoyance on her face has to be connected to a story that Happy needs to hear soon.

Happy shrugs. “Alright. I’ll take your word for it. Might not believe it, but I’ll go with it.”

They get to the car from the airport and it just gets colder. Happy’s shivering harder than she wants to admit, and Toby gives her a weird look for a few seconds until he pulls off his stupid knit cap and shoves it on her head.

“Hey!” Happy exclaims.

“You’re literally shivering,” Toby says with the annoying clinical edge he uses whenever he goes all doctor-y, “put on the hat so you don’t die.”

Happy crams the hat over her head, refusing to admit it’s warming her up.

From the corner of her eye she sees Toby watching her.

“What?” she bites, a little more harshly than she means.

Toby holds up gloved hands. “You just look good in a hat,” he says sincerely. That drops off as he says, “I would know because I, too, look good in a hat.”

Happy groans and rolls her eyes, but can’t quite help but feel a little giddy at that. She chastises herself. Getting stupid over a guy is the last thing she should be doing right now. They’ve got terrorists to take down and hostages to save.

The heat in the SUV from six bodies warms Happy up, and she begins to appreciate the trees, even though all of them have lost their leaves. It’s quiet and peaceful. She can almost imagine snow on the ground.

She hasn’t seen snow in years.

“Alright,” says Cabe, his voice breaking her out of her day dream. “We’re here. Walter, you take over driving. Act lost and confused when you get to the front office.” Cabe pauses. “Actually, just act the way you do when salespeople ask you if they can help you in a store. That’ll do it.”

Happy and Toby slide out of the door while Walter’s arguing with Cabe, whereas Cabe just leaves the car and closes the door.

Walter gets in position with Paige and Sly, coms giving them the information, as the two of them are moonlighting as lost tourists to distract as much as possible until Walter can slip into the command station and open the back gate.

As Happy, Cabe, and Toby make their way around the hill in front of the factory, Toby trips over a rock and nearly falls into Happy.

“Are you sure he’s the best choice for muscle?” Happy tries to ask. She gets the first two words out before her teeth chatter so hard she loses the rest of the sentence.

“You know,” Cabe says as they’re halfway up the mountain, “perhaps next time an actual coat would be helpful instead of a leather jacket.”

“Shut up,” Happy manages without shivering.

“Hold on,” Toby says. He stops and unzips the parka to reveal one of the most hideous sweaters in history. He pulls it off over his head to reveal, lo and behold, another hideous sweater. “Put this on.”

“Are you kidding me?” Happy says, staring at the sweater. “Seriously?”

“Put it on, kid,” Cabe grumbles. “Your teeth are chattering so loud anyone’ll hear us.”

Happy zips up her jacket and pulls the sweater on making sure Toby knows how reluctantly she does it. “I hate this job,” Happy grumbles.

When they see the gate, Toby says, “You know, I feel a little like Frodo and Sam when they see the gates of Mordor. Gates are there, but we can’t get in.”

“Could you not be a nerd for, like, eight minutes?” Happy asks, seriously wondering.

“No,” says Toby, turning toward her. “I don’t think that’s possible.”

Happy feels the damp, partially frozen ground on her knees and hopes Walter, Sly, and Paige put on the charade quickly. She wants out of this grass. The early morning light still hasn’t melted off the frost.

“It’s opening,” says Cabe, “let’s go.”

They sprint across the field, and Happy turns to the side to see Toby keeping up with them even in that stupid parka.

“What?” he says as they slide in just as the gate starts to close behind them. “I’m in shape.”

Happy ignores him as she goes for the power, disconnecting some wires until the power shorts. The door lock is easy as hell to open, and they’re inside in seconds.

“Damn, I’m good,” Happy says, grinning. She’s warmer now, she hates to admit. The sweater is doing its job.

“Yes, you are,” Cabe whispers, “now shut up.”

They shove on their garish glasses and walk as slowly as possible, making their way up to where the blue prints suggested there would be where someone guarding the hostages. The lockdown procedure in the center of the building operates on a completely different system than the rest of the power grid, which is where Happy comes in.

“There,” Toby whispers from behind Happy, pointing over her shoulder. Happy grabs Cabe’s arm and silently points. Cabe shrugs off his jacket and throws it on the ground as he walks in the pitch black to take out the guards. One gets around him as he takes out two at once, and Happy’s ready to hit.

Toby, somehow, is there first, and lays the guy out with a single hit.

“How?” is all Happy can manage.

Toby shrugs, looking ridiculous in the night vision goggles. “What can I say?” he says, a little swagger in his step. “I’ve got a mean left hook.”

Happy doesn’t have time to comment on the stupidity of that comment because she has to use his shoulder to vault off of to tackle the guy who was about to kill Toby.

“A mean right hook and the worst awareness of your surroundings in history,” Happy says from the floor. The guy groans and she hits him again. “Also, I hate hitting people.” She shakes out her hand. “Makes my arm numb.”

“But you’re good at it,” Toby says.

Happy rolls her eyes and stands, getting out her laptop and going for the lockdown protocol. It takes her fifteen minutes to break into it.

“God, you think terrorists would make this difficult,” she says, feeling a little gleeful. “You should be able to open the door now. I’m going to go hook up the power again so people can see.”

“Sounds good!” says Cabe. “Walter?”

“Yeah,” Walter says over the coms, “we’re coming in front the top access. Everybody cleared outside when the power went out. We should be good.”

“Great,” says Cabe. “Meet me in the lock down room.”

Cabe pulls the door open. Happy turns to pull the other door, but it’s locked.

“Cabe!” she shouts. “Wait!”

The lockdown door slams behind him.

“Oh, no,” Toby says. He pulls off his goggles. Happy does the same. Despite the lack of light, she’s starting to adjust to the blackness. She can sense rather than see Toby. He’s close, and she can feel his hand on her lower back.

“We’re locked in,” Happy grumbles. “I can’t get this – it’s a backup system from the outside. The only way we’re getting out is if Walter, Cabe, and Paige unlock it from the gate.”

“Guys?” Toby says, tapping at his com as he turns to pound his hand on the door. “Guys?”

Happy feels for her ear. “Oh, god,” she groans.

“Where is it?!” Toby exclaims. “Where’d it go?!”

“They must have gotten caught when we pulled off the goggles,” Happy says, leaning against the gate. “So now we’re stuck in the pitch dark, we flung our coms god knows where, and we can’t get out until somebody realizes we’re here.” She drops her head against the wall. “Now what?”

“At least it’s warm in here,” Toby says, pulling off his parka, then his gloves, then his sweater. Happy pulls his other sweater off and drops it on the ground.

Happy pulls out her laptop and puts it on low screen, giving them just enough light to see that the coms rolled under the slight crack in the door and on the other side.

“This couldn’t be worse,” Happy says.

“Yeah, it could,” Toby says. “We could be alone in the pitch black.”

“We are alone in the pitch black,” Happy says slowly, wondering if Toby’s finally losing it.

“I meant alone, like, one of us,” says Toby. “Not two of us.”

Happy nods, and considers for a moment. They’re alone. Nobody else is listening.

She might as well.

“Why are you so weird about me?” she asks, ignoring how harsh the question seems.

“What?” Toby asks, looking confused. “What do you mean?”

“You get me a dollhouse, then won’t work with me on it. I literally saved your life and you told me you could have done it yourself,” she says, folding her arms. “The next week you’re almost distant. And then we’re back to normal like nothing happened. What gives?”

Toby won’t meet her eyes. “I might – I might have tried to…” He winces. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well sucks for you,” says Happy, kicking gently at his boots, “because we’re talking about it.”

“I don’t want to,” Toby says, and even though he sounds like a petulant child Happy has to laugh.

“That’s not your call,” she says. She pushes herself off the gate and walks toward him. “What’s up with you?”

“A lot of things,” he says. “You know that.”

Happy throws her hands in the air. “Don’t even start with that,” she says. “You’re doing the deflecting thing you say I do.”

“I’ve been – I have,” he groans. Then he looks at her so intensely she talks a half a step back.

And suddenly she knows what’s coming and she’s not sure if she wants to hear it. But she’s also not sure she wants to stop it.

“God, Happy, I love you, okay?” Toby says, the words pulling themselves out of him. “And it’s not fair for me to push that on you, so I tried to get over you. And then I realized I couldn’t just be friends, so I tried to push you away. And that didn’t work, so then I got stupid and it’s exhausting to be near you but even worse to be away from you, so I have no idea what to do.”

“You tried to get over me?” Happy asks. She doesn’t know why this hurts her. “Why?”

“Because you don’t feel the same way,” Toby says quietly.

It’s not until he says it that she realizes just how wrong he is. “When did I ever say that?” she asks. She steps even closer to him.

His eyes widen in the terrible lighting. “You didn’t,” he says. “I just – after I bombed that date, I assumed you realized you never liked me.”

“You know what they say about assuming things,” she says firmly. They’re as close as they could be without touching, and Toby’s staring at her like she’s just told him that Santa is real.

“Was I wrong?” he asks.

Instead of telling him, Happy stands on her toes and presses her lips gently to his. She doesn’t try to do anything more, leaves her hands by her sides, because she doesn’t want to make the wrong step if he did get over her.

She settles back down on her feet.

“I wasn’t wrong,” Toby says. “Oh, I’ve never been so glad to be wrong in my life.” He leans down and kisses her again, and this time Happy lets her hands go his shoulders. She deepens the kiss, parting her lips and pressing in closer to Toby. He pulls her close, and she’s suddenly grateful that he’s gotten rid of that ridiculous parka. She’s also not cold or uncomfortable anymore for the first time all day – and it feels good.

His hands are freezing as they skim along the skin under her jacket. She jumps.

“Sorry!” Toby says. “Did I –?”

“Your hands are freezing,” Happy mumbles, chasing his lips. “But that’s okay.”

He holds her tightly and then walks the two of them backwards. Happy’s not sure where this is going, but she’s got nothing better to do and, really, there’s not much she’d rather be doing.

And then she’s surprised.

Toby picks Happy up and presses her against the wall.

“Where did that come from?” Happy asks as his lips go to her neck. She pouts when he removes them.

“Boxing,” he says, looking annoyed even in the blackness, “for, like, the past six months. You seriously haven’t noticed.”

“Not until right now,” Happy says, shrugging. “Now go back to kissing and stop talking.”

Toby laughs, his voice low and rough, as he leans to her again, pressing his lips against her roughly. The cold metal of the wall seeps into Happy’s leather jacket, but it bothers her less when Toby wraps his arms around her back.

He slides one hand from her thigh to her ass and she chokes a little bit. She hasn’t been touched like this in ages, and she forgot how good it felt to be wanted this way.

She doesn’t know how to tell him how happy she is, how glad she is that they finally got their heads out of their asses and did something smart with each other for the first time since that failed date. So instead she kisses him harder.

The computer light dims so that, even when Happy opens her eyes, she sees nothing.

Toby pulls his lips away from hers, and she notices somebody is breathing raggedly. After a few seconds and Toby’s half grin in the dark she realizes it’s her.

She drops her head against the wall, but every time she tries to control her breathing Toby’s lips find bare skin and she loses control again.

“I always thought power outages were sexy,” Toby says. His words radiate across Happy’s skin and she sighs. “But you’re better.”

Happy rolls her eyes, but leans in and kisses him again. She loops her arms more tightly around his neck so he pulls even closer to her, her back flat against the wall now. The shift presses them even closer together, and Happy feels herself sliding down the wall.

“Okay,” she says, “I’m falling.”

“Yeah, I can tell,” says Toby. Happy slips a little farther and they fall over, a mess of limbs and laughter.

“So cement isn’t comfortable,” Toby says, groaning. He rolls onto his back and Happy props herself up on his chest. “But that’s better.”

“God, finally!”

Happy and Toby simultaneously turn their heads to where Paige is standing, only partially visible by the computer light. The power turn on after a few seconds of everybody staring at each other in shock.

“Hey, guys, we’ve got the power back…” Walter trails off. “Why are you guys on top of each other.”

Toby moves his hands from Happy’s back and Happy stands, offering him a hand to stand up.

“Because,” Toby says, “we got locked in a basement with no power, and decided this was the best way to keep warm.”

“Or because you were finally forced to deal with each other,” Paige offers. Her grin is insufferable and gleeful. “Now I don’t have to worry about you two pining. You two are the most annoying when you’re pining.”

“Were we that obvious?” Happy asks.

Walter, Paige, Sly, and even Toby say, “Yes.”


End file.
